SummaryWhen a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within The Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of our world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront this uni...
SummaryWhen a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within The Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of our world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront this uni...
The Great Wall has significant problems — namely with Damon and sidekick Pedro Pascal's lack of bromantic chemistry — but chief among its rewards is its ability to marry its Eastern and Western sensibilities.
If you calibrate your expectations to “monster movie for eight-year-olds,” you may find some fun in this energetic and blissfully brief (a mere 103 minutes!) tale of the Chinese army battling alien beasties in the Song Dynasty era.
An amazing story told breathtakingly. Matt Damon's best ever attempt to join a really large scale movie in another mind-blowing production, and Pedro Pascal proves he owns his stripes as an excellent actor the hard way and moves forward to the silver screen.
I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but I was very surprised in a good way. Definitely a unique movie. The action begins relatively quickly, without compromising a decent storyline. Definitely recommend watching!
PS: I'm sure people would truly enjoy this movie if they didn't think so much about the acting or the story. Just go with it. And if anyone complains about the CGI quality, they must be drunk. It looks brilliant to me!
Director Zhang Yimou capably gives period fantasy-action The Great Wall the look and feel of a Hollywood blockbuster, but his signature visual dazzle, his gift for depicting delicate relationships and throbbing passions are trampled by dead-serious epic aspirations.
There are plenty of fun CGI monster-skewering scenes, but a clunky plot, rigid script and equally stiff acting make this a crumbling disappointment, if not quite a disaster.
You can try to enjoy The Great Wall as a delightfully crappy blockbuster, but when you remember this is a Zhang Yimou film, it’s just a disappointment.
"Professional" critics are worthless, this was everything I wanted in a fantasy action movie. The visuals were absolutely stunning and highly original, the action was intense and dramatic, and the character work was simple and effective. While Hollywood always seems to need at least 140 minutes to get through a basic plot, this one trips along with fleet, efficient editing and comes roaring to the finish in a tight 100 minutes. Kept me fully engaged and invested for practically the whole runtime, and definitely feels like something I'll go back and revisit someday too.
I will admit I was worried going in that the CGI monsters would look cheesy, but they were actually fantastic and the movie does a great job of building them up to be legitimately terrifying enemies. The contrast between the graceful athleticism of the defenders and the bestial savagery of the monsters had me flashing back to the battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers.
The Great Wall is an excellent, groundbreaking action movie, and a welcome arrival for people who are tired of everything being either a superhero movie, a 6th sequel, or both.
I was surprised, I was definitely surprised.
I wouldn't call The Great Wall a "great movie". It is a niche genre piece mixing a big of Hong Kong fighting with some fantasy type action. I was really hesitant about the movie though. A Chinese movie, set in a "vaguely" historical China with what I was worried would be the "Great White Hope". However it wasn't like that at all. In fact there was a subtle (or not so subtle) reversal of that.
Instead of him saving everyone, he is saved by them. The movie portrays the greed of capitalism as bad, and the rich elite as just useless. Instead it is those who serve selflessly who are revered in the movie. Definitely Chinese politics are involved in the movie, but maybe I am not so different with my outlook that I found it an overall good message.
Matt Damon is pretty good in the movie as the angry, greedy white boy from the crusades, with Pedro Pascal as his sidekick (you may know him as Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones) who is even more greedy. They are met by one other white person, William Defoe as a very back stabbing kind of capitalist merchant as well. Matt Damon changed over the course of the movie, Pedro changed maybe a little, and Dafoe did not (and suffered for it).
While those actors were as good as to be expected I absolutely loved Jing Tian (she is also starring this year in Kong: Skull Island, and Pacific Rim 2). True she didn't speak a lick of English, but she still portrayed a real badass, and had an intensity. Since I am seeing both of her other movies, I am excited to see her in those.
Overall though the movie was pretty good. People complained about the CGI, but I didn't notice too much. People said it was really colorful, such as the uniforms, sadly my colorblindness means I missed that part, but I still liked it.
However, all that said, it was an ok movie. Not super great, but definitely not as bad as people had said it would be.
The good: action sequences were good, Ms Tian was good, and it was entertaining.
The bad: It is popcorn material, you will forget about it within a few weeks (or sooner) and the political message was a little ham handed.
A beautiful epic film with stunning scenery, a glorious soundtrack, and some fantastic action sequences. Hurt by a story we've seen before and a strange reluctance to give the principle actors more than the simplest lines. 6/10 for the spectacle it offers.
After several great movies by the director, this is a piece of Hollywood **** Maybe the reason it is written by some US guys instead of the usual Chinese staff
Hilarious if nothing else. Chinese movie studio has chucked a tonne of money at Matt Damon and any actor from Game of Thrones, in this case it was Oberyn. The movie is a glorified propaganda movie for how awesome China is and how the West didn't realise it - but they do now! Some awful CGI, even worse acting, stupid costumes and over the top set pieces make this a very interesting watch if not a painful one. A preposterous retelling of history that claims the wall wasnt built to defend from the Mongols but infact giant alien bugs.
Production Company
Legendary East,
Atlas Entertainment,
China Film Co., Ltd.,
Dentsu,
Fuji Television Network,
Kava Productions,
Le Vision Pictures,
Legendary Entertainment